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Background- The Ages of the World
'The Ages of the World, being Nine principly' The Dawn War The age when the world was forged, as described above, when Gods, angels and mortals fought Primordial, archon and elemental. In the wake of the God's leave-taking, the mortals established kingdoms and empires, and banished the remnants of the Primordial's armies from the Mortal world. They learned of Arcane magic, formed the first religions, and forged systems of government. For a time, mortals coexisted, forced side-to-side by their terrible common enemy. Alas, this age soon faded. The Sundering The Mage-Emperor Xelnarius of the Elves ushered in the first age of war between mortals as he made his attempt to seize totalitarian authority over the Cendriane, the Empire of the Elves, claiming his father Correlon's blood as right of rulership. With a third of the Elven race he waged war on his brethren, felling whole civilizations in his bid for conquest. His manipulations set other races upon one another, as the greed of the Dwarves and the wrath of the Dragonborn twisted in upon their people and set all the world alight with conflict. Only through the intervention of Correlon’s exarchs and the Lords of the Fey Court was Xelnarius defeated, banished from the Feywild and stripped of his demigod-hood. Xelnarius' followers became the Drow, elves cursed to dwell forever in darkness, and they fled to the Shadowfel. Eladrin accustomed to life in the mortal world became the Elves, and those whose hearts stayed in the Feywild became the Eladrin. The Dragons and the Devils In the power vacuum left by the fall of the Cendriane Empire, new powers took prominence in the mortal world. In the frozen north, a fledgling human kingdom made a fateful pact with Infernal powers, becoming the first Tieflings, mortal slaves to Asmodeus. Soon, with their terrible new magicks and the command of infernal armies, the empire of Bael Turath controlled all the north, its cities totems to decadence and atheism. In the deserts of the south, the mighty Dragonborn brought to heel their neighbors and forged the Arkhosian empire, ruled over by soaring dragons, owing fealty to Bahamut for justice, and Tiamat for ambition. When these two powers outgrew their boundaries, they clashed in the Middle Kingdoms and battled for supremacy. Near six hundred years of war fed the crows fat on Dragon flesh and Devils' guts. In the end, the genius of the Warlord Malachi and treachery in Arkhosia gave Bael Turath an exhausted victory; the Dragonborn were scattered across the Middle Kingdoms and the deserts, potent still, but leaderless without their Draconic masters to govern them. Bael Turath was not to last much longer. In celebration of the war's ending, the Tiefling's blasphemous revelries brought on a ritual so horrible that it toppled Turath's capital in a single night. None know of these rituals true nature, but legends of the survivors speak of seeing Asmodeus himself through the flames of their fallen city... Bael Turath's emperor was lost along with all his line, the Vault of Pacts forgotten, and the cursed Tieflings forced to wander on the edges of the world, while other powers rose in their place. The Fiveclaw Reign A dark time of internecine warfare and barbaric tyrants. With the fall of the two greatest military powers yet witnessed by the young world, harder races such as Orcs, Hobgoblins and Giants took the lands left unguarded and established a quintet of tyrannical kingdoms, each ruled by a different barbaric race. Mortals of all kinds suffered and died under the whips and axes of their cruel masters, set to war against the other kingdoms to please the bloodthirsty Demon Princes and Dark Gods. These five kingdoms battled for bloody dominance year in and year out (the Kobold Kingdom of Gr'Knap being the shortest lived). Finally the Hobgoblin Tyranny of Ghuldrar established itself as the premiere power, and yet still drove its people on to war in distant lands, the Hobgoblin rulers restless in their worship of their warlike patron, Bane. This proved the empires downfall: several daring Halfling clans, exhausted by the damage done to their trades through centuries of war, began to undermine the empire’s economy from within, and lead rebellions without. This disruption allowed two human viziers of Ghuldrar to gain enough influence over their realms to topple the Hobgoblins and banish them to wilder lands. The viziers established their own kingdoms, and an age of rebuilding began. The Twin Empires The Empire of Cruxia, backed economically and martially by the Dwarven Holds, and the Principality of Highgard, supported politically by the Eladrin Tors, took it upon themselves to rebuild the damage done during the Fiveclaw Reign. Mostly human ruled and supported, this marks the first age in which Men held major dominions. Trade thrived in this time, with the smaller kingdoms unconquered by the empires buying from Cruxia and Highgard, who in turn passed on Dwarven and Eladrin goods respectively: all mortal parties flourished. As the empires expanded, they came into conflict over the province of Arcadia, breadbasket of the World. War between the empires broke out, with a greater trade war waged between the Eladrin and the Dwarves through their puppet kingdoms, only Halfling trading clans gaining any benefit. In the year of Fallen Leaves, the Arcadians struck back, bolstered by an Elven army outraged at the destruction visited upon their lands. The stress of the warfare and the sharp decline in trade devastated the empires, and Highgard, then Cruxia, fractured into violent rebellion. For the first time in history, the eight major human kingdoms established themselves, but they were not to last. The Dominion Quietly, the Drow invaded the mortal world, first with spies and assassins, then with cults and wizardry, and finally, when agents of the Druuchi had burrowed into every corner of the weak, warring human kingdoms, Xelnarius himself struck. He covered the sky in darkness and advanced his army under cover of eternal night, breaking the fledgling human armies against his vicious warriors. Soon enough he declared the Dominion of the Druuchi, and the Dark Elves made the mortal world their home. Forbidding temples to Lloth towered above humble human towns, priests of all faiths were executed and arcane practitioners of all kinds were ruthlessly hunted down by Xelnarius' feared Dara'Shaernen. Disgusted with the weakness of men, Eladrin abandoned the mortal world to its fate and retreated into the Feywild, while the World-bound races suffered under Xelnarius' lash. Determined to regain their sovereignty, rebellious Elves, Men and Dragonborn led resistance movements against the Dominion to weaken Xelnarius' rule. Striking at a time of extreme political turmoil among the Drow, the Dragonborn Chainbreakers gained a foothold in Dharta, and here the rebellious forces rallied. Seeing this turn of events, the Eladrin returned to the mortal realm in force to give their dark cousins battle, and a combined mortal force, led by the revolutionary Selma Dragonheart, dispatched Xelnarius' forces and destroyed the Mage-Emperor's body, scattering his bones throughout the cosmos. The Zenith Imperium In the ashes of Xelnarius' empire, Men found strength to rule '''from the arts left behind by Xelnarius' nobility: '''the arcane. Taking up the powerful lost lore of the Dominion, the budding Kingdom of Zenitha quickly established itself as the dominant power in the region. Through magical influence it rapidly developed powerful technologies, sciences, and means of warfare; in a scant two centuries, Zenitha brought the majority of the Middle Kingdoms under its banner. The Zenith Imperium maintained healthy diplomatic relations with its neighbors, until the implementation of the Archmage Council's long-debated Edict of Absolution, which banned religious practice of any kind within the Imperium. The Edict's intent was to quell the religious unrest in the Middle Kingdoms, but resulted in an explosion of rebellions and uprisings, which the Imperium brutally cast down. Tensions ran high with neighboring Dwarven and Elven nations and soon the Imperium was at war on all sides. The arcane prowess of the Zenith Imperium's Warmages and Airship fleets efficiently dealt with the threats the empire faced, and the Zenithans thrived in the warfare economy. The five major theories of Arcana were established at this time, as well as the ability to distill residuum, and the mighty floating cities of Zenitha housed some of the most powerful mages in history. The heights of the Zenith Imperium's glory were eclipsed only by its sudden, violent fall. The ambitious archmage Vecna became sole dictator after a series of violent insurrections and assassinations of his rivals throughout the Imperium, only to be later ousted by a coup of Council Loyalists. In a last minute gamble to salvage his power, he completed his apotheosis ritual, ascending to Godhood and becoming Vecna, the god of secrets. The backlash of power brought the floating Citadel of Daveren crashing to the ground, and opened a massive, permanent portal to the Abyss on mortal soil. The Imperium fell within five years. The Cleansing The bloodiest and most brutal age of them all, the time known as the Cleansing saw the Mortal World wrought with destruction. Demonic hordes ravaged the remnants of the Zenith Imperium, and drove into the lands of Halflings, Dwarves, Eladrin and Dragonborn. Dwarven holds and Eladrin Tors were toppled within a few scant years of the demonic incursion, and hundreds of thousands were devoured, enslaved or sacrificed to the Lords of the Abyss as the Ta'nari armies ran rampant across the Middle Kingdoms. Desperate Kings of every mortal race blasphemously swore oaths of fealty to the Demon Princes in an attempt to stem the tide of corruption ravaging their lands. Horrified lords of other lands refused to kneel to the demonic hosts, and prayed to the gods for deliverance: their prayers were answered, and the war reached a new level of ferocity. Cohorts of Angels from every god descended to the Middle Kingdoms and brought war to the demons... but did not stop there. Declaring the lands of mortals forsaken, they ravaged the Kingdoms of those lords who had turned their backs on the gods, and even, in their rage, upon pious lands they considered too damned to save. A generation of battle and destruction waged, mortals nothing but cattle to feed the demonic legions and sate the righteous anger of the Heavenly Host. When Asmodeus, Lord of the Nine Hells, declared his intent to take his ancient right of Blood War against the demons upon the mortal world, all seemed lost. True salvation arrived in the guise of a young knight, Ser Xander the Absolved, who led a desperate crusade of all races against the demonic and angelic threats to the mortal world. Casting down Balors and Solars alike, he drove the otherworldly armies back with his mighty host, its vanguard led by a mighty battle-cog of Warforged. Finally, he met the Scourge himself, Demon Prince Yeenoughu, in single combat, as his fearless Warforged tore into the Destroyer's abyssal horde. In his defeat, Yeenoughu dragged the noble Xander through the skin of the earth and down into the damned Abyss, an ignoble end for the tenacious hero. Xander's efforts were not in vain however, and finally, the demons were driven from the mortal realm. Reluctantly, the angels took their leave, and the mortal realm was left in ruin never before seen. The Empire of Nerath Slowly, from the ashes of the Cleansing, the mightiest Empire in mortal history began to rise. Lord Caewyth Nerath, liege lord of the legendary Ser Xander, rallied an alliance of many races to his side in an effort to recover from the devastation. He drove the remnants of the demonic and gnollish hordes from civilized lands and established a boundary between the brutish races and the Middle Kingdoms. His heir, Owyn Nerath, took battle to the Orcish and Hobgoblin hordes that had squatted upon the noble lands of Dwarves, Elves, and men, and vanquished the barbarians. These grateful mortals, brutalized and ravaged by centuries of enslavement and war, looked to King Nerath for leadership, and so Owyn brought Dwarves, Elves, and Men under a single banner, a novelty that would form the basis of Nerath's strength. Owyn's heir Tethyn declared his lands under rulership of the Empire of Nerath, and called to any free races in need of his empire's aid. More of the Middle Kingdoms called out and joined Tethyn, as well as Dragonborn clans, Dwarven holds, and even an Eladrin Tor. Soon Nerath's boundaries eclipsed all those that had come before it. The Empire's might was unparalleled, its legions formed of whole Chapters of knightly orders, Dragonborn shock troops, Elven scouts, Eladrin airships and Dwarven heavy infantry. Inter-empire trade brought wealth and prosperity to all, and at the end of the Wars of Demarcation, the time known as the Imperial Peace lasted for nearly three generations. Then, surely as its potent rise, Nerath began its slow, dwindling fall. On the Day of Ashes the Hold of Karak Azamar fell, destroyed from within by the vile wyrm Ragnorok, and through this lapse in the Dwarven Everrealm's defenses, the tide of Orcs began to flow. The Imperial armies were hard pressed to give fight to the orcs at first, accustomed to peace, but gradually fought them back, over a hundred years of border warfare. Neighboring kingdoms were not so lucky and were soon overrun by the growing hordes of wild races. Pleading to Nerath for help, the incompetent Emperor Caewyth XIII refused their aid. In spite, three kings, their names lost to time, put a curse on Nerath and all its line. That day, it is said, Dagon Bloodspear was born. The mightiest Orcish general seen since the god Gruumsh himself walked the world, Dagon battled like an orc possessed. Before his fifteenth year he united scores of Orcish clans under his banner, and soon the Bloodspear advanced through the outlying kingdoms and into Nerath like a blade piercing into unguarded flesh. Near all of the Knights Protector were slain in the Defense of Cruxia in the north. The Nerathi-allied Dwarves in Karak Tyrfeng woefully closed their gates on their empire, saving their hold from the Bloodspear armies but damning thousands of refugees who fled to them. Finally, Prince Eoreth gathered his remaining knights and retainers to make a stand against Dagon in the ruins of Nerath's capital. For seven days and nights the battle brought the city down around them: Prince Eoreth's knight's were slain to the man, he and all six of his brothers put to the sword. A miracle amidst the bloodshed spared the remnants of the Empire, as Dagon himself was found slain, tears running down his bloodied face as he clutched his broken banner. Dagon's followers quickly fractured, and the Middle Kingdoms were spared the horrible onslaught of the Bloodspear horde. Today The world is fractured, rife with conflict and disorder. A hundred years have passed since the fall of Nerath, and though the kingdoms of mortals hold against the remnants of Dagon's horde, they hold by a thread. Mighty citadels of civilization pierce a wilderness of darkness and danger. Distrust between civil races runs high, and political and racial tensions have driven these erstwhile allies apart, none trusting in the strength of an imperial alliance after Nerath's near-apocalyptic fall. The lands of mortals are like a pack of wounded beasts... and vile predators lurk in the darkness, waiting to finish the kill. The need for heroes today is dire indeed.